Press Kit

The I Love My Librarian Award encourages library users to recognize the accomplishments of exceptional public, school, college, community college, or university librarians.

Each year up to 10 librarians are selected. Each librarian receives a $5,000 cash award, a plaque and a travel stipend to attend the awards ceremony and reception held in their honor. The I Love My Librarian Award ceremony will take place on Jan. 25, 2020, at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting & Exhibits in Philadelphia.

This year's winners include a librarian who expands resources for tribal college libraries, a librarian who creates accessible programs for special needs children and their families, and a librarian who inspires underserved high school students to reach their full academic potential.

Nominations are submitted on the I Love Libraries website and are open from late spring through the early fall. Winners are announced in early December. In the award’s first 12 years, library supporters nationwide sent in more than 20,000 nominations for their librarians. A total of 120 librarians have won the award to date.

Each nominee must be a librarian with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the American Library Association in library and information studies or a master’s degree with a specialty in school library media from an educational unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. Nominees must be currently working in the United States in a public library, a library at an accredited two- or four-year college or university or at an accredited K-12 school.

The philanthropic foundation Carnegie Corporation of New York generously sponsors the I Love My Librarian Award. The New York Public Library and the New York Times are co-sponsors of the award. The ALA administers the award through ALA’s Communications and Marketing Office, which promotes the value of libraries and librarians.

Media Contacts

Macey Morales
Communications and Marketing Office, ALA
cmomedia@ala.org

Celeste Ford
Carnegie Corporation of New York
212-207-6277
cfc@carnegie.org

Press Releases

Committee

Members of the 2019-2020 I Love My Librarian Award Selection Committee:

Loida Garcia-Febo, Chair
Immediate Past President
American Library Association

Kathryn Roots Lewis
Immediate Past President
American Association of School Librarians

Ramiro S. Salazar
President
Public Library Association

Lauren Pressley
Immediate Past President
Association of College & Research Libraries

Caryl Matute
Acting Chief Branch Library Officer
New York Public Library

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I Love My Librarian logo

Winners

Jesús Alonso-Regalados

University at Albany, State University of New York
Albany, New York

Press release: Albany, New York, librarian receives I Love My Librarian Award

Cathy Gulley Evans

St. Mary's Episcopal School: James Frederick Smith Library
Memphis, Tennessee

Press release: Memphis, Tennessee, librarian receives I Love My Librarian Award

MaryAnne Hansen

Montana State University: Renne Library
Bozeman, Montana

Press release: Bozeman, Montana, librarian receives I Love My Librarian Award

Homa Naficy

Hartford Public Library - The American Place
Hartford, Connecticut

Press release: Hartford, Connecticut, librarian receives I Love My Librarian Award

 

Maria Papanastassiou

Arlington Heights Memorial Library
Arlington Heights, Illinois  

Press release: Arlington Heights librarian receives I Love My Librarian Award

Leah Plocharcyzk

Florida Atlantic University's John D. MacArthur Campus Library
Jupiter, Florida 

Press release: Jupiter, Florida, librarian receives I Love My Librarian Award

Janet Tom

San Francisco Public Library
San Francisco, California

Press release: San Francisco librarian receives I Love My Librarian Award

Tracie Walker-Reed

H. Grady Spruce High School
Dallas, Texas 

Press release: Dallas librarian receives I Love My Librarian Award